Your New Life

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Another New Life

You wake up to the sound of surf, much, much closer than you've ever heard it unless you moseyed down to Puffin Pier back in the old days. What old days...? Why, the days when you had a body, of course. The memories are probably coming back by now, jumbled along with everything else you lost. What a wake-up call.

But at least the ocean is real, unlike your dubiously fragmented remembrances. This little island out in the middle of nowhere sports a crude sign reading DUCK DAMNED ISLAND that seems like it's really railing against whatever fate you've been left to. There are little seashells and sparkling fragments amongst the sand to the left of your face. If you look further, to the left and right, it seems you're not the only one who's woken up here; it's considerably less cushy than your last wakeup, but maybe that's not a bad thing.

Here, you're free, albeit... kind of incorporeal, as you'll soon find out. The island is covered in pretty little trees that don't quite form a forest, bowed over the really beautiful sandy beach that is way prettier than the one on the mainland. One, slightly rickety treehouse -- bare of anything, because incorporeal ghosts don't need furniture, of course -- peeks out from between the leaves. This is, apparently, your home away from home now.

Finally, there's a small bay-like area on the island that leads you to a strange-looking storm drain, marked with a symbol that's not-quite-an-apple. Stepping in will wash you alllllll the way back up to Puffin Pier, right where the sewers normally let out.

Oh, and once you step onto the mainland? You're now a duck. What kind of quacking afterlife is this.

((OOC: the tldr; about death is here!))

Main NavWeek Two

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[driftedaway]

Oh yeah, need a contingency plan then... [ He looks down at the paper, brainstorming for a few seconds. ]

What about this? I'll go memorize it, so I can write it again whenever.

[aurevoirx2]

If you really want to. [ He's confused at this effort just for board game instructions. Or maybe he's just confused Keito-kun's being so nice after.... ]

[driftedaway]

[ Keito stops moving the pen and closes his eyes. His smile is still on his face, but it looks drastically different from how it was during the game. ]

It's something concrete I can do after failing, failing, failing to figure out anything actually useful outside.

[aurevoirx2]

[ ...

Would pat him on the head but he can't reach that high, so shoulder it is. ]

You're fine.

[driftedaway]

Am I?

[ He smiles sweetly at the gesture, the very picture of an innocent boy. ]

Well, I did have fun.

[aurevoirx2]

Un. Just be yourself, Keito-kun. [ He means it. ]

[driftedaway]

I will. Once I figure out who "Keito" has to be.

[ The pen starts moving again, his handwriting as neat and precise as before. ]

[aurevoirx2]

[ ... ]

Just you. Fuck the adults, remember.

[driftedaway]

Of course, I remember.

[ As he writes across the page, he continues talking with a curious tone. ]

How old do you think I am, Sora [ -san ]?

[aurevoirx2]

[ ...? ]

Didn't your plaque say 15?

[driftedaway]

That's right. I'm 15 now.

[ He finishes another rule with a flourish. ]

But you know, I also remember being 19. Just for a little bit.

[aurevoirx2]

...?? Like, in a dream way or a real way? [ Because he can't tell with you sometimes. ]

[driftedaway]

That does need clarification. [ Maybe it's because he's here that he can laugh at that. ]

But it's something I remembered, the same way we remembered more once we woke up here.

[aurevoirx2]

Time... travel? [ Right now, he can accept about anything. ]

[driftedaway]

Something like that. I guess it does have something in common with time travel stories—it's the year I die.

[ He pauses a moment before pressing the pen into the paper for a period. ]

[aurevoirx2]

Hmm. I see. Does that scare you?

[driftedaway]

It'd be weird if it didn't. [ As for why he brought it up in the first place... ] I do want to be myself, but I also don't want to ignore that.

[aurevoirx2]

Hmmm. Then... change it. [ As if it's that easy. ]

[driftedaway]

They said I could change it by denying my best friend. [ As if that's easy. ]

But I'm not going to do that. So yeah, I'll have to figure out how to change it. Just not in the way they want me to.

[aurevoirx2]

Hmmm. [ He's absolutely not the one to give advice here, as his thought process is mostly "get rid of the problem then", and like he assumes Keito isn't up for the same shit he is? ]

Should definitely be a way around it.

[driftedaway]

[ He stares. ]

A way without killing them, Sora.

[aurevoirx2]

I didn't say anything about killing though. [ Yet. Blinks at being called his first name though. ]

[driftedaway]

You were totally thinking it. [ Totally not going to explain that without prompting though. ]

To keep it simple, I thought about it too, but I'm not sure how much they talked about me to others. If they did, I'd have to deal with them too, and this time without any information to go off of.

[ So, yeah. There's also the whole "it's fucked up to kill someone" thing he still genuinely thinks, but since this is Sora he's talking to, this should come first. ]

[aurevoirx2]

[ Sounds exhausting my guy. ]

Then, why don't you talk to the ones involved? [ Wait. ] Hm? This time?

[driftedaway]

I'm not really sure, but...it seems like time's working weirdly. [ He genuinely has no idea what the heck's going on there! ]

The man who told me all that and made me "remember" was one of the people behind my death. I...think he told me that because he might have regretted it a little, but would still do it anyway.

[ It's absolutely exhausting. ]

At least that's what it looks to me right now? And that's part of why my mind is a mess.